


(The Misunderstanding of Being) Unfriended

by sisforsterek



Series: The Crazy and Awesome Life We Live [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Broken Bones, Canon-Typical Violence, Derek Hale/Braedon never happened, Eventual Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, First Kiss, Getting Together, Good Alpha Derek Hale, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Stiles, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Gore, Misunderstandings, Off-screen OC Character Death, Past Jennifer Blake/Derek Hale, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Past Stiles Stilinski/Malia Tate, Sassy Peter Hale, Sheriff Stilinski supports Derek, Sheriff thinks Derek is good enough for Stiles, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 14:03:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16097138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisforsterek/pseuds/sisforsterek
Summary: Stiles finds out that the pack has a group text chat that he’s not a part of, even though Peter is included. Things don’t go well from there.





	(The Misunderstanding of Being) Unfriended

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Azurarain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azurarain/gifts), [misfitmonarchy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misfitmonarchy/gifts), [brebit6](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brebit6/gifts).



> This started out as a Tumblr “What would you write for this made-up fic title?” Meme, and I was given the word “Unfriended.” I wrote out the gist of the plot, so I decided I might as well write the story, even though I changed a few things along the way.
> 
> The mentions of Derek’s past relationships and Stalia are pretty much blink and you’ll miss it; they’re only referenced. 
> 
> See the Notes at the end for an explanation of the violence, gore, and OC character death. 
> 
> Thanks to brebit6 for the beta read! Thanks to misfitmonarchy for talking some things out with me and giving me advice on this. Thanks so much to azurarain for the lovely art that I commissioned for this.
> 
> Please let me know if any of the formatting looks weird.

“So a third person was reported missing last night,” Stiles says as he paces in front of the couch in Derek’s loft. “There’s no discernable pattern. The first person was a man who was abducted in front of a gas station at night. The second person was a woman on her way to work in the early morning. Her car was found running with the driver’s side door open at a stoplight. And the third, a child taken from a backyard—which has access to the Preserve—when her mom went inside to answer the phone. Race isn’t even a factor, either, because each person was from a different ethnicity…” Stiles trails off as he hears several cell phone text alerts.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket to check, but it wasn’t his. He looks up as he hears a few snickers, and everyone is glued to their phones. Derek is scowling, which is pretty normal for him. Peter looks quite pleased with himself, which is also a normal reaction for him. Scott is looking at Derek with a fond smile.

“What?” Stiles asks.

“It’s nothing,” Derek replies. “What else do we need to know?”

“Well, since three’s a pattern, of missing people, three people in three days anyway, my dad has to call in the FBI,” Stiles answers as another round of text alerts fills in the loft. Stiles checks his phone again, but still no alert. “Seriously, what the fuck is going on? This has been going on for weeks! Why do you guys have a group text without me? I thought we were friends! Well… some of us at least,” Stiles says, scowling at Peter. “I mean, even zombie wolf is included. Since no one seems to want to include me in this group chat, I can only come to the conclusion that it’s _about_ me. Anyone going to disprove my theory? Now’s your chance.”

Stiles looks around at his friends, but no one will make eye contact with him except for Peter, who is smirking. Scott tries to lie and say it’s nothing important, and Scott trying to lie is never a good thing, because Stiles knows his tell.

“Fine!” Stiles yells as he makes his way to the door of the loft, hoping the wolves aren’t getting wafts of whatever the hell hurt feelings smell like. “I’m going to work with my dad on this one. You’re all on your own. Let’s see how you manage without my research!”

Stiles ignores Scott’s plea to wait as he slams the freight elevator door and presses the button for the ground floor.

~

Stiles pulls into the station parking lot with dinner for himself and his dad. As he slams the door to his Jeep, he nods to Parrish, who is walking towards his cruiser.

“At least Dad will enjoy my company,” Stiles says to himself as he enters the station.

~

An hour later, Stiles is sitting in the Jeep in his driveway. He pulls out his phone again, still not seeing any text alerts from his so-called friends. He’s had it with feeling left out. He’s the only single one in the pack, since his mostly mutual breakup with Malia. She didn’t take long to move on, which only hurt a little bit, because he wasn’t in love with her anyway. Derek and Peter don’t count, mostly because Derek seems to be the perpetually single type, after both Kate and Ms. Blake used him for horrible reasons, and well, Stiles doesn’t really know if Peter is single, but he doesn’t count that creep as a pack member or care about his personal life anyway.

“I’ll show those assholes,” Stiles mumbles to himself.

He blames feeling down for the reason he decides to go through his contact list and block every one of the pack members. He wants them to know what it’s like to be ignored. He only feels a little bit guilty about blocking Derek, because Derek didn’t actually look pleased with the situation, but Stiles could be misinterpreting that fact, too, since Derek can be hard to read, even for someone like himself who spends way more time than is healthy studying the alpha wolf.

As soon as he’s tapped “block” on the last person, the door to his Jeep is wrenched open, and he’s yanked out by an angry woman.

~

The first thought Stiles has as he’s being forcibly pulled behind this thing—which smells of rotting flesh and drags him with more ease and speed than possible for such a petite woman—is that he really should’ve taken Derek up on his offer to teach Stiles self-defense. Stiles only turned him down because he didn’t think he could be in such close proximity to Derek for extended periods without the risk of an awkward boner. Stiles was technically still a teenager, after all. Also, Derek probably only offered out of pity for being the only pack human, a useless human who can’t get free from this tiny fucking thing with a painfully strong hold on his upper arms.

His second thought is to remind himself to focus and pay attention to his surroundings for any possible escape opportunity. Unfortunately, he’s knocked out only a second later.

~

Derek gets a text from Lydia at 8:50AM.

 **Stiles didn’t show up for school today.**  

**And my texts to him come back as “undeliverable.”**

Derek sighs and texts back.

_I’ll check on him._

Because Derek is trying to be a good alpha this time around.

He glares at Peter as he walks toward the elevator door. “Stiles stayed home from school today, and I’m blaming you. Also, why do you spend so much time here when you have your own place?”

“Stiles is right; You are a _sour_ wolf,” Peter snarks back.

~

Stiles’ Jeep is in the driveway at the Stilinski house when Derek gets there, and so is the Sheriff’s cruiser, which means that if Stiles didn’t go to school today, there must be a really good reason. Still, Derek goes around the back of the house and climbs the tree next to Stiles’ window. It’s unlocked, as usual, and he easily slips inside, but immediately notices the room is empty. Derek takes a second to listen and only hears one heartbeat in the house. Derek has a sinking feeling that it isn’t Stiles’.

~

Stiles wakes up in a cave. The right side of his head throbs from where that bitch hit him, but there’s enough light streaming in that Stiles can tell the sun hasn’t set completely yet. At least he thinks it’s close to dusk and he hasn’t been knocked out for about twelve hours. He tries to move his arm and realizes it’s tied to his other arm behind his back. Upon further inspection, he sees that his ankles are tied together too.

He takes a look around and notices he’s not alone in the cave. There’s a man, or what’s left of him anyway, hanging from a low ledge in the cave. It looks like a wild animal has ripped the flesh from his legs, and Stiles empties his stomach right then and there.

As he’s spitting to try to get the bile taste out of his mouth, he hears a child crying, then a woman’s voice telling her it’ll be okay. He can’t see them, so they must be further back in the cave. The one thing Stiles doesn’t see or hear is the thing that took him, so he figures he has a little time to plan an escape.

“Okay Stiles, think,” he says to himself, “It can’t be a windigo, because windigos don’t smell like decay, but what else eats human flesh? Zombies? Derek said they’re not real when I asked him, and they weren’t in the bestiary either. Plus it seemed more sentient than rabid. But, it doesn’t matter what it is, I need to get out of here.”

“Hello? Is someone else here?” the same female voice from earlier asks.

“My name is Stiles. My dad is the Sheriff. He’ll find us, so don’t worry. He can track my cell. I think it’s in my pocket, but I can’t really get to it since my hands are tied behind my back, and it’s in my front pocket,” Stiles answers. “The FBI should be in town by now, too. What can you tell me about the woman who abducted you?”

~

Derek tracks the lone heartbeat in the Stilinski house to the Sheriff’s bedroom. He knocks with a sense of unease overcoming him.

“Who is knocking on my bedroom door at 9:20 in the morning on a school day?” Derek hears Noah mumble as a bed spring squeaks.

“Sheriff, it’s Derek Hale,” Derek announces, maybe a little louder than he intended, but he’s not in the mood to be shot this morning, even if he would heal from the bullet wound.

“Derek?” Noah opens the door. “What are you doing in my house? Where’s Stiles?”

“That’s why I’m here. He didn’t show up at school this morning, so I thought he would be here, but he’s not. His Jeep is in the driveway.” Derek answers.

“Ah shit,” Noah says. “Let me get dressed.”

~

All Stiles has managed to find out from the woman in the cave, Gloria, is that she was pulled from her car and knocked unconscious before she woke up in the cave. She said she didn’t want to discuss anything else in front of the child. Which, okay, Stiles understands, but if he wants to plan an escape, he would like all of the facts. He told the woman that, but she was firm in not wanting to discuss gruesome details in front of the child.

One thing he _has_ been able to figure out, though, is that it isn’t close to dusk, because it has been getting brighter in the cave. Hopefully his friends will have figured out he’s been taken by now. Maybe Lydia will put the pieces together; with her brilliant mind, it shouldn’t be too hard. Or maybe Derek will be able to track his scent. He is the best tracker in the pack, after all. He shouldn’t have been so rash as to block them. He’s not proud of the way he overreacts sometimes, but he’s barely eighteen, and sometimes his emotions still get the best of him.

So currently, Stiles is trying to scoot to the edge of the cave, which is turning out to be a very slow process, what with his ankles being tied together as well as his hands tied behind his back, but he is making progress. Slowly.

He stops when he hears something outside the cave.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” He calls out.

When he doesn’t get a response, he tries again. “We need help in here! Please, call the Sheriff’s Department if you can hear me!”

“Oh now, that won’t be happening.” Stiles hears as he sees something in the cave’s entrance. A few seconds later he realizes it is the not-entirely-human thing that kidnapped him.

“What are you?” Stiles asks as it comes closer to him.

It stops only when it gets too close for Stiles’ comfort.

“It doesn’t matter, child,” it replies. “You won’t be around long enough to find out.”

Stiles pushes his body weight forward, trying his best to knock it over, but it steps away before he makes contact.

“Well now, we can’t have that,” it says before stomping down on his thigh with such force that Stiles can hear his bones cracking.

He passes out from the pain.

~

“His bedroom door was shut when I got home a little after 6:00 this morning, and I didn’t think anything of it. He usually doesn’t get up for school until at least 6:30. I should’ve checked,” Noah says as he opens the front door.

Derek follows Noah outside to Stiles’ Jeep.

“I’m sure you were just tired from work,” Derek says, trying to reassure him, although he’s not sure if it comes out that way when he sees the pained look on Noah’s face.

“It’s no excuse. I always check.” John replies as he tries the handle on the Jeep.

The Jeep’s door opens easily, which means it wasn’t locked.

“Stiles always locks his Jeep. He’s really good about that,” Noah says.

“And I take it he wouldn’t leave his phone behind either?” Derek asks when he spots it on the floor of the Jeep.

“Not a chance,” Noah says, “I’ve got to call this in.”

Derek breathes in deeply while he waits for Noah to call the station, and he’s hit with a fading, but pungent aroma that overlays Stiles’ scent. He walks around the Jeep slowly, starting toward the back of it first, but quickly turns around when he loses the scent and passes Noah, walking in the direction of the Stilinski’s backyard.

“What is it?” Noah asks, following behind Derek.

“Stiles’ scent leads this way, but he wasn’t alone,” Derek replies.

“What do you mean he wasn’t alone?” Noah asks, his voice rising in pitch.

“Whatever it is, it’s not human,” Derek answers.

“A werewolf?” Noah asks.

“Something else,” Derek replies.

Derek has now followed the scent all the way to the end of the Stilinski’s backyard, where it meets with the Preserve.

“Get your gun. I don’t know what we’re up against, but his scent leads into the Preserve, and I don’t think he went willingly,” Derek tells Noah.

~

“I texted Scott. He’s coming here, and he’ll follow our trail and catch up to us,” Derek tells Noah as he leads the way into the Preserve.

“I had Parrish inform the FBI agents who got in this morning. There still aren’t any real leads,” Noah answers sullenly.

“We’ll find him,” Derek assures Noah as they take off into the woods at a fast-pace.

~

They’ve been walking for twenty minutes when Scott catches up with them.

“What’s that smell?” Scott asks, his nose scrunching up in distaste.

“I think it’s whatever has been taking people the past few days, but I’ve never smelled anything like it before,” Derek answers.

“In other words, we don’t know it’s strengths or weaknesses, so when we find it, I’m going to shoot first, ask questions later. Understood?” Noah tells them.

“Understood.” Scott replies as Derek says, “Yes, Sir.”

~

Stiles wakes up in severe pain. Both of his legs are throbbing so intensely that he feels like he’s going to vomit, but he has nothing left in his stomach after throwing up earlier in the day. He opens his eyes and tries to look around the cave, but he doesn’t see the Thing. He can see that more of the man’s flesh has been gnawed off the bone.

He hopes that his friends have figured out he’s missing by now, because he now realizes that he has no chance of escaping with two broken legs.  
“Help!” Stiles screams, “Somebody help us! Please!”

And he passes out again.

~

Derek stops walking suddenly and holds out his arm to stop Noah and Scott.

“I just heard him scream from that direction,” Derek says as he points. Then he takes off running, forgetting entirely about the scent.

“We’ll save him,” Scott tells Noah as he takes off behind Derek.

Noah tries his best to keep up, but he doesn’t have werewolf speed, so he loses sight of them after a few minutes.

~

Derek skids to a stop outside of a cave. He can smell Stiles’ scent really strong here, along with whatever took him. He motions for Scott to be quiet as he listens. He can hear three heartbeats in the cave. Scott tries to push him aside to get to the entrance, but Derek throws his arm out to stop him.

“Wait here. Let me go in first. If it’s clear, I’ll let you know. If it’s in there and you hear us fighting, come in and save Stiles first. I’ll take care of myself. Are we clear?” Derek whispers.

Scott nods and Derek enters the cave.

~

Stiles wakes again and screams when he feels something picking him up. Pain shoots down his legs, which are throbbing violently still.

“It’s just me. It’s Derek,” Derek tells him, his mouth so close to Stiles’ ear that he shivers.

“It’s about time,” Stiles answers, before passing out, yet again.

“Free the other two and take them to the Sheriff. I’m going to get Stiles to the hospital,” Derek tells Scott as he makes his way to the cave’s entrance with Stiles in his arms. He purposely doesn’t glance at the corpse of the man hanging in the cave. He’s just thankful he got to Stiles before whatever gnawed on that man gnawed on Stiles too.

~

Derek thinks that Stiles would get a kick out of the way Derek is carrying him as if Stiles is his new bride, if only Stiles wasn’t knocked out from the pain. He’s been able to make good time through the Preserve, only having to stop once when Stiles woke briefly before passing out again.

He hopes Scott and the Sheriff are doing okay without him. He’s only slightly worried, not knowing what they’re up against. Noah is a good shot, and Scott is pretty good in a fight, but he still worries. He’d howl for the rest of the pack if he wouldn’t possibly be giving away his location to whatever took Stiles.

~  
Scott has just led Gloria and the young girl, Haley, to the Sheriff when he hears something moving fast through the trees. He turns just in time to be tackled to the ground.

“You shouldn’t take what isn’t yours,” the woman who smells of decay says.

“Hypocrite much?” Scott replies as he pushes the unknown creature off of him and stands up.

Noah shoots twice in quick succession through the creature’s chest, but it only laughs.

“I’ve already been raised from the dead. You’re going to have to try harder than that to take me down,” it cackles.

“Try the head!” Scott yells. He’s played enough zombie video games with Stiles, after all.

The creature turns and runs in the opposite direction, but the Sheriff is a fast shot, and a bullet to the head brings it down.

“Take them to the hospital to get checked out. I’ll stay with the body and call it in,” Noah instructs Scott. “And check-in with Derek.”

“He’ll be okay,” Scott says as he motions for Gloria and Haley to follow him. “Derek won’t let anything happen to him.”

~

When Derek walks in through the emergency room entrance, he sees Melissa right away.

“What happened?” she asks.

“Something took him. He’s got a bump on his head and his legs are broken. He’s been in and out of consciousness,” Derek replies.

Melissa motions for him to follow her to a bed.

“Just put him down here. I’ll get a doctor,” Melissa tells him.

Once Stiles is in the bed, he stirs again. His faces scrunches up in pain and he opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is Derek.

“Did I die and go to Heaven?” he asks. “No wait, I wouldn’t be in this much pain in Heaven. So Hell then? I knew I should’ve been nicer to Greenburg.”

Derek grabs his hand, unable to stop the grin forming on his face, and starts draining Stiles’ pain.

“You’re in the hospital, idiot,” Derek answers him as an ER doctor and Melissa walk into the room.

“We’ll have to take him to get a CT and X-rays now. You can wait in the waiting area and someone will give you paperwork to fill out,” the doctor tells him.

Derek doesn’t let go of Stiles’ hand when Melissa starts rolling the bed away.

“I know you’re worried, but you’ll just have to let us do our job. You know he’s like my other son. I will make sure he gets the best care. Call Noah. Let him know Stiles is here,” Melissa says, her tone motherly in a way that is comforting, but also authoritative.

Derek nods and makes his way out to the waiting area to do as instructed.

~

Noah shows up at the hospital two hours later. Scott had shown up with Gloria and Haley about an hour ago, but he left shortly after to update the rest of the pack. Derek should have done it himself, being the alpha, but he didn’t want to leave the hospital, even though he couldn’t be with Stiles right now. It’s just a waiting game at this point, because he needs surgery to reset the bones in both of his legs.

“You did good, Derek,” Noah says as he takes a seat next to him.

Derek just nods, but he doesn’t agree. If only he’d just told Stiles what the text was about last night, then all of this could’ve been prevented.

“It’s my fault Stiles was taken,” Derek says.

“Don’t tell me that lady was another one of your exes?” Noah laughs.

Derek laughs bitterly before replying, “Not this time.”

“Then how can this be your fault?” Noah asks.

So Derek tells him about the group texts, and even what the text was about. He knows the Sheriff will find out anyway, when Derek tells Stiles.

Noah just puts a hand on Derek’s shoulder, squeezing it briefly before taking it away.

“Son, if anything this is Peter’s fault. And Stiles’. You shouldn’t be forced to tell my son you have feelings for him. That’s your decision alone when or if you decide to tell him. And Stiles has always been one of those people who feels emotions so passionately that it can make him do stupid things. I can’t tell you how many strange critters he brought home and wanted to keep as pets, just because he thought they were abandoned by someone. When he brought home a scorpion, Claudia and I had to sit him down and explain that not every creature is tame, or even safe to handle, and that Animal Control exists to round up lost and stray pets.” Noah tells him.

Derek chuckles, “That sounds like Stiles.”

“And another thing I know about my son, and I’m only telling you this because I know you’re really blaming yourself right now, is that he is very passionate about you. He talks about you more than he used to talk about Lydia. It may not be what you feel for him. It could just be that he finds you interesting, but I seriously doubt that’s all there is to it. So if you decide to tell him, I think he’ll respond in a positive way. And if you’re worried about what I think, of the age difference, or just about my son dating a werewolf. He’s already dated a werecoyote and survived to tell about it. He’s also legally an adult now, even if he doesn’t always act like it. Yet, in some ways, he’s acted like an adult since Claudia died. All any parent wants is for their child to be happy, and I do know that you make him happy.” Noah ends his speech with a pat on Derek’s back.

“Thank you,” is all Derek can think of to say. It feels like a small weight has been lifted off of his shoulders.

~

The doctors don’t let anyone see Stiles until he’s out of recovery from surgery. By that time, the rest of the pack has trickled in, and Noah is the first to go in to see Stiles. He spends much less time in his room than Derek thought he would, before he’s walking back into the waiting area.

“He’s all yours, Derek,” Noah tells him.

Derek gets up, nervous suddenly, and slowly makes his way into Stiles’ hospital room.

~

“Dad says I should thank you for saving me,” Stiles says as soon as he sees Derek walk through the door to his hospital room.

He doesn’t sound entirely happy about it.

“I thought you would be happy to see me,” Derek says, wondering if he should turn around and leave.

“Maybe you can tell me why people I thought were my friends have been talking behind my back,” Stiles says.

“We’re not talking behind your back, Stiles,” Derek says, frustration taking over. “This wasn’t the way I wanted this conversation to go, but I’ll show you the damned texts.”

Derek pulls out his phone, finds the messages and shoves his phone in Stiles’ face.

Stiles’ reads the texts to himself.

Peter: _If I have to sit through another minute of having to smell my nephew pining for Stiles, I’m going to puke._

Peter: _Would someone please put the poor boy out of his misery and tell him FOR Derek, since he’s obviously never going to tell him? Do I have to do it myself?_

Stiles just says, “What?”

Derek takes a deep breath and exhales before answering, “Everyone knows I like you, and they’ve all been bugging me to make a move since you turned eighteen… because they know you like me too.”

“So why haven’t you?” Stiles asks.

“You know my dating history, and you know I fuck up everything I touch,” Derek answers.

“Maybe it’s because you haven’t had me by your side, idiot. I fucking love you. Wait, I didn’t mean to say that.”

Derek’s briefly hopeful face falls, “Yeah, I get it.”

Stiles growls, or attempts to–he’s not a wolf, after all. “No, I mean, I do love you, have for a while, but I didn’t mean to say it before we’ve even been on a date or kissed. It’s the pain meds. It’s like truth serum. I don’t want the first time I say those words to be when I’m basically high.”

Derek smiles, hopeful again. “I love you, too. I don’t know why, because you’re a total pain in my ass–“ Stiles laughs and wiggles his eyebrows. “But I do, and when you’re not high on pain meds, I’ll ask you on a date.”

“Deal,” Stiles agrees, before yawning.

“Get some rest, Stiles. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

~

Derek is there when Stiles wakes up, but he’s asleep. Stiles’ dad is on his laptop, probably working while Stiles has been sleeping, and doesn’t notice that he’s awake yet, so Stiles takes the time to stare at Derek. His face is so relaxed that he almost doesn’t look like himself, but it makes Stiles smile. He thought maybe he’d dreamt the love confession part.

Scott peeks his head in the room and says, “You’re awake. Mind if I come in?”

Stiles motions with his hand and grins. Noah startles and says “Hey Scott.” before standing up. Derek stirs as well.

“I’m going to go get a cup of coffee and let you two boys catch up. Derek, want to come with?” Noah says.

Derek agrees and smiles at Stiles before following Noah into the hallway.

“Can you believe he likes me?” Stiles asks with a goofy grin on his face.

“I can, actually. You know you’re awesome,” Scott says as he stops next to Stiles’ bed. “Look, I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine. I get it, but it still made me feel awful,” Stiles says.

“I promise I won’t let anything like that happen again,” Scott says.

“Good. You’re forgiven,” Stiles replies, and Scott leans in for an awkward half hug.

~

The next person to stop by is Lydia. She brings him a gift bag with Dr. Pepper and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

“You have to know you’re an important part of the pack, right?” she says as she sits gently on the hospital bed next to Stiles.

“I’m just a human, with no extra skills or anything, so I don’t buy that,” Stiles tells her.

“But you do have skills. You’re great at research and finding the pattern when no one else can see one. You have a brilliant mind,” Lydia says.

“But so do you. You’re infinitely more brilliant than me,” Stiles replies.

“Yes, I’m a genius, but not in the same way you are, and you know that. Quit fishing for compliments. My interests lie more in books and theory. You have a detective’s mind. The real problem is that we need to listen to you more,” Lydia says as she pats Stiles on the shoulder before standing up.

~

Over the next few hours Kira, Isaac, Malia, and even Peter stop by to apologize and check on Stiles. Well, Peter doesn’t really apologize so much as express his delight that Stiles is still alive so he can continue to tease him and flirt inappropriately, much to Derek’s annoyance.

~

Finally, once the visitors have stopped, and the Sheriff has returned to work, since Derek has agreed to stay with Stiles, Stiles gets to talk to the one person he’s wanted to talk to all day.

“Why do you like me?” Stiles asks.

“I ask myself that constantly,” Derek replies, tone completely serious, but the slight upturn of the right side of his mouth gives him away.

“Ha ha. No, really. I’m just me and you’re, well you,” Stiles says, as if that explains anything.

“I hear opposites attract,” Derek replies. “Why do you like me?”

“Well, apparently I like to be frustrated by vague answers. I guess I like being manhandled too, which doesn’t say much for my masculinity, but I guess I’m okay with that, if someone like you actually wants to date me, unless this is just about pity or convenience,” Stiles finishes lamely. It’s hard to fake self-esteem when the pain medicine is wearing off.

“I definitely don’t pity you. And if this was about convenience, I’d just go pick up a woman. I’ve never dated or been with a guy, which should make you feel special. I never even looked twice at a guy, until you. You have no idea how attractive you are, and that just makes me want you more. You frustrate me on a daily basis, but at the same time, I just want to be around you. I like that you talk enough for the both of us, because I’m happy to hear whatever you have to say, even if it doesn’t seem like it. I’m happy just being around you. I’ll admit, I was probably never going to make a move, which is exactly why the group text thing started. I’m still scared to now, because I don’t know how to be in a relationship that doesn’t end badly,” Derek says.

“Okay, one, that is the most you’ve said to me at one time, probably in the entire time I’ve known you. And two, I know about three of your relationships, and I can tell you where and why they all went wrong, but I’m sure you already know those things. So, let me just say, I already know about werewolves and other things that go bump in the night, and while I don’t want to be a werewolf, I think it’s really fucking awesome that you are one, which is why I’d never want to hurt you, or use you for anything.” Stiles tells Derek as he leans closer to him.

“And that is another reason I like you,” Derek says. He closes the distance between them and presses his lips to Stiles’, who makes a surprised noise, but eventually kisses back.

Their first kiss is short, and not dirty or passionate like Stiles expected it to be, but it still puts a smile on his face.

“You know, I always thought if we ever kissed that it would be one of those ‘you make me so angry and there’s a fine line between love and hate’ type kisses, but that was good too,” Stiles says.

“You’re ridiculous,” Derek replies with a chuckle.

“But you love me,” Stiles replies, no longer able to refrain from grinning.

“Yeah, I do,” Derek tells him.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I’m not a big fan of gore, so I don’t go into detail, but I’ll tell you what happens in case you want to skip this. There are mentions of an already-dead OC character, the same OC character has parts of his flesh eaten away (also off-screen) by something. Stiles has his legs broken on-and-off-screen, but it’s not very detailed. Stiles is also restrained by the baddie with rope. Also, an OC character is shot a few times, on-screen. I think that covers it all. 
> 
> Don’t forget to look at the lovely art I commissioned for the story, thanks to azurarain! I don’t know why the links aren’t working. I’ll have to figure it out later, but here is the url to the art. https://sterekreblogsandart.tumblr.com/post/178468189602/art-for-the-misunderstanding-of-being-unfriended
> 
> I already have a sequel in the works, but I’m not sure when it will be finished, so subscribe to the series if you want to be notified when it’s posted.
> 
> Find me on my tumblr: s-is-for-Stiles to leave me prompts or just to follow someone who still posts mostly Sterek.
> 
> Writers live for comments! ;)


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